A busy weekend combined with some necessary sewing made it hard to get into the studio last weekend. (The art table is also my cutting and sewing table.) But my boys have five (five! yay!) days off in a row, so we ought to be able to make up for it. We spent a little time there today.

Materials: Black charcoal paper, white charcoal pencils, white conte crayons, various items to look at while drawing (including that beautiful delicata squash, which will be part of tomorrow’s dinner)

Both boys chose to start with the pencils, and then they moved on to the crayons.

The goal here is not a perfect sketch–it’s experimenting with a new medium as well as learning to really see what you’re aiming to draw. At one point I heard my six-year-old say, “I noticed at the end it was a little larger.”

My nine-year-old drew the ball of string and then asked, “Are there scissors? I want to draw a piece of string.”

My two-year-old asked for some tape. I thought she wanted me to tape her paper down, but she had other ideas.

This weekend, in between sewing four troll hats for the first grade play, I hope to get us back into the studio for more experiments with color and pattern.

Reminder: All text and photos copyright Amy Hood. I love to spread the word about great art experiences for kids, don't you? You may use a photo to link back to a specific activity or post, but if you'd like to use more than one photo or any text, please contact me first: kidsinthestudio at gmail dot com. Thank you!